Thursday, December 22, 2011

This past week, Boston.com readers submitted their own missed connection ads to Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein. Goldstein passed them to Blackall, who chose her favorite as inspiration for a special illustration.

The winner
you hooked me in with your sweet robot moves and cat shirt. none of that grinding stuff, just natural robotic talent. you said ‘‘hey, you’re cute.’’ and i said, ‘‘you, too’’ and then i elbowed you in the ribs because i’m not very smooth when it comes to romance. i thought this exchange meant we agreed on a sloppy bar makeout? whenever i busted out the robot arms, your robotic arms chopped mine in half. kept looking at your cat shirt thinking, ‘‘yesssss, i can see us marrying and having lots of cats.’’ went to dance on stage with friends and then lost you?!?myfriend said you got shy, which makes you and your cat shirt even more cute!!! spent a ridiculous amount of time searching for your pussy shirt, but alas, i lost both you and my heart on the dance floor. find me cat shirt guy, find me. p.s. i also put up ‘‘LOST: cat shirt guy’’ signs for you.
ana s., brookline

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The winning Missed Connections story came from Cat Hughes, from Dublin. The painting is above, and here is the original message: (printed in last week's Time Out New York magazine)

You were wearing an average office suit with an admirably messy haircut. I was the girl with brown curly hair and a blouse with horses on it. We did that awkward back-and-forth shuffle of two strangers trying to pass each other on the street; then you grabbed me and gently swirled me in a mini waltz in the middle of the lunchtime shoppers and angry passersby. I would understand that moment if it happened now – two people sharing a delicate second in a day that hadn't gone to plan. But no, when it happened I was in my awkward early-twenties, so I just frowned, trudged away and hoped no one had noticed. Thanks for making my day.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A while ago I promised you a fun, collaborative competition. Well here it is! Time Out New York is seeking your Missed Connections and I am going to illustrate one of them. From the magazine:
"In conjunction with the publication of Sophie Blackall’s sweetly whimsical book of illustrated Craigslist ads titled Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found (Workman Publishing, $14), TONY is seeking readers’ stories of blown opportunities ala Craigslist. The winner will have his or her story illustrated by Blackall and will receive a signed copy of the illustration, as well as a signed copy of the book. Two runners-up will also receive a signed copy of Missed Connections."
To enter, click here.
To all of you who sent me lovely emails over the past years asking me to draw your own personal Missed Connection, now is your chance! Enter, enter!
ps This drawing is meant to be me, catching your messages.

Monday, September 12, 2011

If you live within a convenient radius of Greenpoint, NY, or even if it's slightly inconvenient, please join me on October 6th at 7pm at Word for the launch of Missed Connections, Love Lost & Found! I will be introduced by Brett Fletcher Lauer and Gretchen Scott of Ships that Pass, and will share the stage with audience members telling their own missed connections stories and some special guests. (If you're interested in telling a story, please email Jenn at info@wordbrooklyn.com. And if you like, you can RSVP for the event on Facebook
I can't wait to meet you.
x

Friday, August 5, 2011

Small talk about weather w/ awkward blonde in tribal print dress Thursday, August 4, 2011- w4m - 28
You caught me looking at you on the corner of Carmine and Varick and then approached me to make small talk about the weather. I blushed, stuttered, and had a moment of verbal diarrhea that culminated in me asking you what you did. You looked disconcerted, said something about mailing lots of envelopes to LA, after which I got even more awkward, said "good luck with that" and fled. With a face like that, you're probably not single. Even if you are, I'd likely still be shy and tongue-tied.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

To celebrate Missed Connections at the recent BookExpo America in New York, Workman printed posters of Polka Dots in the Strand and we have five (signed) to give away! Leave a comment below to enter. Winners will be drawn democratically, using the fool proof chapeau method, and announced next Thursday.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011
-m4w
Ack! 'Round 7pm or so... I was browsing the shelves and saw you on the other side. I swear I glimpsed our entire future together in that brief moment. It was beautiful. And then someone asked you for the time. I mean c'mon, who doesn't have a damn time-telling device of some sort these days!
Oh, if only I'd thought of that.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday, April 3, 2011-m4mI fixed the water outside your apt today, you had a problem with your plumbing. I never asked you your name but I thought you were very attractive. Interested? Reply with where you were going and what you were wearing.

Friday, March 18, 2011

I did a really bad job of trying to introduce myself on the subway. I asked about your white fur hat because I liked it, but then I didn't know what to say afterward . . . it was on the F train, from 2nd Ave to Jay St. Write me if you don't mind guys that fumble over their words when they're nervous.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I saw you for maybe a second or two.I've read missed-connections before and wondered why people just didn't say something then and there. Now I understand... perhaps it's because the moment is extraordinary; containing a fullness of its own... and the thought that this person across from me is not a part of my everyday life, and at any second will disappear, didn't even occur to me... it seemed that we were in whatever it was together, and that sort of connection rarely, if ever, happens between strangers, so my mind was a little slow on registering that there would be no "some other time" if neither of us asked for the others phone or email.

Now, hours later, the ripples created by those few tender seconds still gently rock something within me...and I become a missed-connections poster.

Friday, February 4, 2011

With the Missed Connections book wrapped up and off at the printer, I have the beginnings of a new project to share with you.For now I'm calling it Drawn From My Father's Adventures.I have always loved my father's stories, the grim ones from boarding school during the war, the exciting ones from being the son of a spy, the exotic and bizarre and beautiful ones from traveling to unpronounceable places long before there were guide books. These stories formed pictures in my head over the years and I have finally convinced him to write them down so I can get them out of my head and onto the page.I live in Brooklyn, New York and my father lives in rural Australia, so it's a long distance collaboration. I'm awfully excited. Come and have a look.ps This doesn't mean Missed Connections is over...

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About Me

Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections websites. Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down.